Member Sign In

You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating indiv idual securities.

If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.

All About the Big Jobs Numbers

It is all about jobs today, as the market digests this morning’s significantly better-than-expected January jobs report. Not only do we have an impressive headline number, but the internals of the report speak of broad strength and an accelerating trend. Needless to say that the market will cheer today’s report.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported better-than-expected non-farm payroll numbers for January of 243K, compared to expectations in the 130K to 150K range. The tallies for December and November were revised upwards, belying expectations that last month’s strength was due to one-off seasonal factors.

The unemployment rate dropped again – to 8.3% from 8.5% in December. Average hourly earnings and the average workweek both ticked up, rounding out an overall very positive labor market report.

The expectation for a deceleration in the January number reflected the reversal of some seasonal factors that had supposedly boosted the December gains. Instead, we not only an accelerating jobs trend in January, but the very strong December number was revised upwards. This is consistent with all the major labor market indicators that have been showing an improving trend. Initial Jobless Claims have been steadily coming down.

The employment component of the manufacturing ISM survey was less favorable in January compared to the preceding month, but was nevertheless indicating jobs gains. Importantly, we have consistently been seeing greater improvements in the Household survey than in the Establishment survey over the last three to four months, indicating that the official jobs numbers are understating actual labor market gains. This shows to me that we are in the midst of a fairly stable improving labor market trend.

After the close on Thursday, Sunoco (SUN) confirmed its corporate restructuring plans that will result in the company shedding its remaining refining assets and holding on to only its midstream logistics (the Sunoco Logistics, or (SXL - Free Report) , stake) and marketing business. The company also announced a leadership change, a 33% boost to quarterly dividend, stock buybacks totaling about 20% of the company’s market cap, and debt repayments and other liabilities. This is a significant shareholder-friendly initiative that will bring down the company’s risk profile.

Resources

Client Support

Follow Us

Zacks Research is Reported On:

Yahoo

MSN

Marketwatch

Nasdaq

Forbes

Investors.com

Morningstar

Zacks Investment Research is an A+ Rated BBB Accredited Business.

Copyright 2016 Zacks Investment Research

At the center of everything we do is a strong commitment to independent research and sharing its profitable discoveries with investors. This dedication to giving investors a trading advantage led to the creation of our proven Zacks Rank stock-rating system. Since 1988 it has nearly tripled the S&P 500 with an average gain of +26% per year. These returns cover a period from 1988-2015 and were examined and attested by Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP, an independent accounting firm.

Visit performance for information about the performance numbers displayed above.